Pre-Run

During the Run

On the bus ride up to the starting point, I sat next to a late-50’s/early-60’s man who has run 30-40 half marathons and will be doing his 30th marathon in a year or so.

Seeing so many older runners was probably one of the coolest things about doing this run.

Another cool thing is being in a port-a-potty when you hear everyone cheer as the starter gun goes off.

Time to go…

Mile 1-2

If there was one thing I heard a lot as I was preparing, it was to take it easy. I have to tell you though, when there is a ton of people surrounding you, it was hard for me not to get a head of the person in front of me.

My shins kept me from going all out though. They were flaring up and so my first goal was to warm them up and take it easy until they felt better…which they did during my second mile.

Mile 3-5

Right before mile 3, I met up with another first-timer, Corrine (or Cory). She was very nice to run with me because it really helped me. If one thing I learned from this run is that it’s much easier to keep a pace and more fun when you have someone running with you.

Cory and I met up with the 2:20 pacers and stayed there for a while. Danny was one of the pacers and he had TONS of energy. He was running left and right, up and down with the 2:20 runners. I learned from his sister later that he normally runs a 1:40.

Danny also gave me a couple of Cliff shots around mile 4, so he’s definitely on my awesome list.

Mile 5

When I reached 5 miles during this race, it was a much different feeling than when I ran the Turkey Trot. Before it was more of a “wow, I made it” and now it was “really, is that all?” Granted, I wasn’t running as hard as I did during the 5 mile run.

Mile 5-8

When running a race like this, there are water stations every two miles. How about a beer and donut station? It was pretty funny to see some campers hanging out on a big rock, cheering us runners on, with a table of beer and donuts for us.

I cheered them back, but the thought of any of that after running 5 miles and 8 miles to go almost made me throw up.

At mile 6, we were given Cliff Gel for nutrition. I’m not a gel fan, but I didn’t have any gummy cube shots with me. Boy was it hard to get down.

My stomach was not feeling good for the next half mile or so, but I was glad the feeling went away.

With a happy tummy, I started noticing that my right shoe was rubbing against my skin. I stopped to pull up my socks. It looked good, but I am definitely getting longer socks next time.

Around mile 8 was a sad moment – I fell behind my running buddy Cory. I was just running out of steam and I couldn’t keep up.

Mile 8-10

Without someone to run with and wanting to be done, I began to do some walking. I tried to keep it at a quick pace, because I knew if I rested too much it would be killer to get back to running.

Walking up a hill with an older lady, I looked up and saw a camera guy. So I said, “Camera guy! Let’s go!” The older lady and I picked up the pace and started jogging to make a good show.

As we got closer to the guy, what I thought looked like a camera was actually a cow bell as he was encouraging us on.

The older lady and I laughed and started walking again until we got to the top of the hill. She accused me to tricking her, but she was smiling.

Approaching mile 10 was fun because the Canyonlands Half Marathon has a group of drummers that help your heart beat to the rhythm of their drums. It was cool.

Mile 10-12

Around mile 10, the 2:30 pacers caught up with me and I tried to stay with them. It was at that moment that I realized that 2:30 was my original goal. For a while, I thought 1:30 was maybe what I wanted to do, but that is crazy fast and not what I can do right now.

I stuck with them for several minutes and found out that one of the pacers was the sister of Danny (one of the 2:20 pacers).